Let’s give the author (Peter) opportunity to explain it himself: “Hi, Love your site. I was playing around with some particle-systems and depth-maps in AfterEffects and suddenly this guy showed up. I like how his legs get totally twisted in the middle of the spin. It works with the same principles as the Einstein and Chaplin-masks where you see the inside but it looks like the outside.”

Whoa, that IS cool!! I only see it going one way unless I try really hard though.

Felix

Nice application of particle system.

I found that it’s actually possible to see this guy actually rotate the full 360 clockwise. You need to concentrate and tell your mind you are looking at a surface .. then u will see when the figure turns away from you, the dots are dimmer.

But generally awesome. :)

Anonymous

whoa crazy

Anonymous

if you watch his shins you can see him spinning continually in one direction…

Larokin

cool,but this happens because our brain sees the other side of the image rotating and reflects it on the “direction” of spinning.just guessing.

Anonymous

WHOAA!!! When I cover up the top part and only see his legs, it doesn’t look like it’s changing directions, but when I see the whole thing, I can’t make it NOT change directions! COOL!

Anonymous

weird is when my eyes perceive the top half to spin one way and the bottom another.

Screaming Doubles

There is a point when it looks like his upper body is spinning in the opposite way his legs are.

that kid was rightit is WHACK.

its similar to those 3D images of faces using an imprint. When they spin you get a similar effect. however, none are like this cause this is digital, naturally.

Anonymous

you can actually undo the illusion by not directly looking at the image. if you look to either left or right of the image, you will see it rotate a full 360 degrees in one direction. changing sides changes directions ;)

Anonymous

The man isn’t really a man if you know what I mean !

Anonymous

THIS IS WAY WEIRD!i looked in the animations category and it was still being worked on.i looked and saw a snapshot of a man like this illusion.the strange thing?i saw it BEFORE vurdlak made this post!

Nice Illusion :DWhen i opened the page i didnt read the text and only saw the man spinnig in one side.But after i read the text i couldnt stop seeing the man changing of direction, xD.

Anonymous

HOLY COW. i didn’t get the spinning girl one, but maybe now i will.

mike

awsome to say the least. its like the budda one, the face is concave when its backwards, but the mind will not percieve it that way and will amke it convex.. any way for some reason when i watch him spin.. when he is backwards, the elgs seem like they are gona cross, and get tangled or something. but they just go around to normal

side note. i cant seem to see the girl to spin the other way.. both are cool illusiong though

wtctw

What an absolute BEAUTY… I mean that quite literally. Mesmerising and pure satisfaction watching it revolve… However hard you you try and focus on those particles it takes me by surprise every time that switch in direction occurs. I love it… VERY EASILY my personal favourite so far! Am going to check out spinning girl now… Brilliant site!!!! How do you apply to become a member of your team? Assuming that’s possible!

Pedro

it looks like the effect in the “house of cards” video from radiohead

Anonymous

The best part is when he spinz!

Stryker

This is cool I’ve seen the same thing with the Harry Chaplin Mask. With this one keep your eye on one of the feet and you won’t be fooled.

dudette

dude i think im a little crazy from the wave pool @ nrh2o. am i the only one who sees a man twyirling two ways @ once? CRAZZZY!!!!

OK. i guess that if you look @ it the right wayit looks like a dude turning. this is soooo weird!!

Geannette

It is awesome keep it up i’ll become one of your fans love optical illusions since impresionism…

Anonymous

wow!!! thats so cool!

Anonymous

Won’t be as popular as spinning girl as its not a moving gif…you tried cutting and pasting it?

Kevin

I think these are so cool. I can see it going both ways…once i get concentrated on 1 way it is hard to make him go the other way.

Anonymous

keep an eye on the feet!!

Chris

Thats amazing. I could watch the Moire effect all day.

Anonymous

you can tell tht his feet are crossing and plus u cant be 3D on both sides. u can see his nose on both sides, same wit his feet. so its not turning all the way around.

Anonymous

totally love this. so much easier to realize than the spinning girl too!

Michael

Totally Rad! This is one of my favorites.

Anonymous

OMG this is so good (its WAY better than the spinning girl ;) and this time i got it! :D

fanob5

Vurdlak, this is one of the best illusions you’ve given us in a long time. Outstanding!!

Anonymous

if u stare at its face,the illusion doesnt work

ME!

Stare at his left foot and you will see he is turning the same way the whole time

lax for life

Omg!!! That is so flipping cool! I wish I knew how to make stuff like that!!!

Richard

That is seriously BAD for the EYES!!!

Crazzee

It didn’t switch for me, just sort of paused for a half second and kept going…

Baby

It’s cool but it takes YEARS to load!!!

Anonymous

way easier to change the direction than the spinning girl thing … but if u want it to go all the way around focus on his feet and legs

Rory

I didn’t read the text first, and saw him spinning only one way, then I read the text and saw him change direction, then i looked at his legs, and sometimes they are spinning different to the body.Confusing.

Anonymous

if you watch his legs they cross in a weird cross but otherwise this is an awesome thing!

Wolter Hellmund

In fact it is not really spinning the whole 360 degrees, but instead its cycle is inverted–its only spinning 180, then the animation rewinds. So, the illusion is not that we see the man in ‘both cycles of the rotation’, but it is actually that we think that the image is spinning. You can tell by the illumination of it.

aroyy

if you want to see him spin a full 260 digrees just look at the space in between his legs

youll see what i mean

nupanick

Because you can see one side better through the other, there’s a clockwise directional preference. And when I tried to see it counter-clockwise, the legs appeared to change sizes. Still a cool effect, though.

Tyler

look a his legs when he spins

Anonymous

Okay. For those of you who are having trouble seing the man change direction try doing this. The man “seems” to have two sides, and if you are having trouble telling your self that you are looking at the same side each time, and that he is not spinning then just do this. wait until his “back” faces towards you and then force yourself to assume its the front of him. He Will change

Anonymous

But if thats a man, then were’s is the, um, penuis? (Not sure how to spell penius.) It is showing the front side after all, and it doesn’t look like he’s wearing any clothes. Good Illusion finding Vurdlak!

PS, To the guy who did comment #44,

Dear Whoev’ you are:Do you have blurry eyesight or any other problems with your vision? ‘Cause it looks like the guy is rotaitin’360 degresses to me, YOU LIAR!

PPS, Pardon the bad spelling.

Anonymous

I think he is definitely rotating from right to left and like a clock if you would look from above. I concentrated my view onto the nose and if it would turn the other way ’round the nose might have some strange movements!

I always see the man looking at me. Turns 180 degrees, then 180 in another, etc.

Ednnnnnnnaa

keep an eye on his legs ;
they seem to be altering as he is turning 180 degrees.

Cat

Ahhh! I think it’s one of those illusions with the… it’s hard to explain, but it’s like a mask and when you turn it around it looks like it’s still protruding out, even though… Oh, how do I explain? There was a Tutankhamen Mask illusion like that…

Grr

pokemon boy1

and a charlie chaplin one

MACurious

The Spinning Man is lacking an important part. ;D

http://www.youtube.com someone

meh. seen it before

LOLZ

Holy Crap!!! I made it look like his arms are going one way and his legs are going the other?! You just need to concentrate very hard. Brilliant website btw.

Hetel

The dancing girl is better, this one looks like his other leg is suddenly 30cm shorter than the other one.. lol

salad

AAAAAAAAAAH! IF I BLINK HE CHANGES DIRECTIONS! D:

Nemanja Curcic

Legs should be changed to look more realistic ! ANyway cool !

Detective Kitty

this is easy to esplain because we focuse on features suh as the face (oneout of a few areas) when the face does a full circle we see through the face and the eyes in it’s concave form suddenly seem convex which creates the illusion that he had started turning the other way..

Gigi

brilliant!

Luna

If you stare at his crotch, when he gets to the “switching” point, it looks like the legs are continuously rotating clockwise, while his upper body switches directions.

This illusion is the same as a mask or anything that has a concave shape, when it rotates, it’s as if, just moving back and forth but actually, is rotating..

Anonymous

It didn’t work for me! :(. BTW Luna LOVE the TARDIS. Must tell my Doctor Who mad friend. LOL. ;)

Anonymous

Itis working now

Stella

I dont really like it that much…

McFly

ive seen the spinning women but it didnt work…

Starz

I don’t think the believe that the head is moving quite at the same time. the body and limbs can cause you to think it turns differently.

DefCon2

Hi.. I made this one.
I know about the twisted legs, but it was planned.
I could have used a different camera in After Effects. I might do a better version.

Thanx anyway for the comments

IN YOUR FACE!!!!!!!

awesome!!!!! I can see it both ways! turning left and right!

Ira

If i concentrate reeeeeally hard he makes a 360 turn.

Amit Kalra

The man is divided into 2 halves. A white halve and a dark halve both in frontal planes and opposite to each other in a Sagittal section. The dark man illuminates when the white turns 180 and gives the impression of turning arond the other way when its actually moving in a circle.

Veggies

Keep looking at the head, it will work then.

ZL123

First it spins 180 degrees one way.
Then he spins 360 degrees the other.
Then he spins 180 degrees the other way.
Then 180 degrees the other way.
Then 90 degrees the other, and 90 degrees the other.
Then it goes 360 degrees another way.

Coolio!

ryebread

HOLY CRAP!

CBD

OM Gosh!!
His legs are spinning one way while his torso spins the other.. I’m CONFUSED AND STARTLED!!!!

Watzitooya

To beat the illusion, watch his foot O,O

Adrijana

Guys, he haves no back.Only back side of legs.He haves two faces and two bodies on front and back as well.Only legs have front and back side.
In other words, he don’t have ass :DDDD
Just follow his legs and you will get it ..

katrina

language!!!! :-D

CBD

it spins with the legs one way and the torso

katrina

what is a torso?

Christine D

his legs and arms move in different directions but his face moves in both…lol…im…confuzzled! stare at his crotch and you will see what i mean.

http://facebook.com cjhay

look at his feet moves in one direction. .but his face move different. .that is shit!!

katrina

you kiss your girlfriend with that mouth. :-D

quack yup quack

thisisnot only the best opttical il website but its the bet on i EVER went to!!!!!!!!!!

bead

To beat the illusion, look at his genitalia.

Oh… wait – he has none?

Krucek

when his front is going left that is the front of the body and when it’s going to the right thats the back, WATCH THE FEET

zz

He Spins both directions Cool

QB

thats awesome….

kabayo

what makes this model quite effective is the highlight/ light on the feet that confuses you more to trick you that the hallow/back part is still the front.

I want that 4 mine as well. It would freak my friends out. To beat it LOOK AT HIS KNEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

Hadley

He has no butt!!!!

katrina

HA! :-D

Karen

No, i get it. To beat it, watch his foot. It will do no good watching his torso, or face. It is just like the einstein illusion. Our brains make us think he is outside not in. I am confused, really I am. Whoa! Its just so… confusing. But, the cat illusion is more popular. Still, this is very nice. Nice work!! But CONFUSING!!!